Machine Failure
by kelinor
Summary: Why? WHY won't it work? - A short little thing I reeled off this morning. Poor Daniel... ((updated slightly))


A/N: Bwhahaha. After several reviews, I updated this a little bit to make it clearer. And where did I get the idea? o_0 I have now idea. My muse is nasty^^  
  
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The device still sat there. I could feel it, grinning spitefully at me. I ran trembling fingers over the bold message clearly displayed on the front. Even if I translated it into a dozen different languages, the outcome would be the same.  
  
I glanced around desperately for the rest of my team. Teal'c probably couldn't help; Jack would probably be nearly as pissed of as I was, Sam... Sam could do something about it! She was good with machines!  
  
I spun round, scanning the dim room, almost deserted. Then I saw Jack wandering in, the way he normally does, bored with something as usual.  
  
"Jack!"  
  
Something in my voice must have got him, because his head snapped up, then a vague grin crossed his face.  
  
"What's up, Danny?" he said, sauntering over to where I was standing. I pointed a trembling finger at the innocent-looking device on the table in front of us. Jack turned to look, and then recoiled slightly.  
  
"Dear God, that's horrible!"  
  
"I KNOW!!!"  
  
I turned away again, jabbing the round buttons uselessly, in any combination. But it seemed the stark message was not lying. I laid my head against the table in my crossed arms and tried not to sob.  
  
"Two days, Jack! Two days I've been waiting for this! WHY is it tormenting me?"  
  
"Calm it, Daniel. Let me see what I can do," he said anxiously, measuring up the machine with a calculating eye. "I could probably give it a blast with a zat, that might make it – "  
  
"JACK! This machine is priceless! Don't you even THINK of shooting it!"  
  
I slumped. Two days tramping around offworld, getting soaked in its endless rain, twisting my ankle AGAIN... The only thing that kept me going was the thought of this machine at the end of it. False promises wilted away in the face of that stark message.  
  
At that point Sam and Teal'c came in through the opposite door.  
  
"SAM!""CARTER!" yelled both of us loudly and simultaneously. Jack hand been experimentally smacking the side of the device, applying the kick-it-and- see method that he usual did; I grabbed his wrist to stop him hitting it again, and advanced towards the Major.  
  
"Sam, you've got to help," I said, pleading, intensely. "You're the only one that can help us now!"  
  
She checked her watch surprised. "It's still 3 am, Daniel! You should be asleep! And definitely not tramping around on that ankle..."  
  
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" I yelled. "How can I sleep knowing this thing is just sitting here??"  
  
Sam winced slightly at my ragged voice. "Jesus, Daniel, you really mean it, don't you?"  
  
"No, I enjoy yelling at people for absolutely no reason at all," I replied tightly.  
  
Teal'c turned his head, running assessing eyes over me, and at Jack hovering undecided at my shoulder.  
  
"I believe you should make haste to fix this problem, Major Carter," he said.  
  
I swear that big Jaffa bastard was laughing at us inside. I glared at him.  
  
"Fine, fine," sighed Sam. "Did you not try one of the other machines?"  
  
"For crying out loud! OF COURSE I DID! They're all bloody like that!"  
  
I almost couldn't recognise myself. This had really hit me hard; it had better be fixed, now...  
  
Sam leant her hands on the table, staring intently at the device. She looked around the back of it, where wires and tubes were sprouting out of it. After tugging around, whispering and humming slightly, Sam withdrew and took a deep breath.  
  
"I'm sorry, Daniel. I don't see a way to fix it right at this instant..."  
  
I groaned and covered my face with my hands.  
  
Sam looked around the empty morning commissary, and then back at the large OUT OF ORDER sign.  
  
"...I guess you'll just have to make your own coffee."  
  
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